Year in Review: 2012 Accomplishments

While everyone seems to be making their best-of lists for 2012, below are some highlights of Global Green USA's work from the past year. In 2013, Global Green USA will continue its important work, while accelerating our efforts in response to help communities rebuild greener, healthier, more resilient neighborhoods in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
Global Green USA Accomplishments - 2012 Highlights

Supporting Local Green Heroes

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The launch of our national Citizen Entrepreneur Contest put a spotlight on local green heroes who take responsibility for improving a corner of their world. Cassie Parsons, a farmer and chef/restaurateur from Charlotte, NC, took the top prize for creating an urban farm in a low-income community, and buying their produce for the restaurant.

Transforming Waste Into Assets

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After our successful coffee cup recycling pilot with Starbucks, our Coalition for Resource Recovery (CoRR) team is partnering with New York City public schools to create renewable and recoverable alternatives to Styrofoam lunch trays. We are also working on more pilots for our groundbreaking work to reduce and use the mountains of food waste that come off the island of Manhattan each day.

Greening Schools Nationwide

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Our National Green School Makeover Competition invited teachers, students, and their families to submit ideas for greening their school for a chance to win a $130,000 makeover — the winner was the Texas School for the Deaf, which is already saving money on energy, water, paper, and plastic, not to mention reducing waste.

Rebuilding New Orleans

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At our Holy Cross Project — a sustainable village in the Lower 9th Ward — we sold four of our green homes to deserving families, with one family reporting an energy bill of $28 during August, one of the hottest months of the year! We started construction on our Community Development and Climate Action Center, and continued our citywide energy program.

Greening Cities

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We helped eight cities across the country — from Louisville, KY, to Philadelphia, PA — to create greener neighborhoods with our work on the Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities program. Closer to our headquarters, we worked with the City of Santa Monica to bring a bike share program to the city starting in 2013, brining 35 stations and 350 bikes to one of the epicenters of LA traffic.